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Working
for our founding father
By Mary Alice Casey
Patrick Madden doubts he’ll have another “career moment”
like this.
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National
Portrait Gallery
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| The
“Lansdowne” portrait of George Washington. |
Not that
Madden, BMUS ’94 and MA ’96, doesn’t have a bright
future. It’s just that the chance to help ensure the most famous
portrait of our founding father doesn’t slip out of America’s
hands only comes along, well, maybe once in a thousand years.
As director of external affairs for the Smithsonian’s National
Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Madden handles fund raising
and public relations. He kept busy on both fronts after the heir
to the British family that has owned the “Lansdowne” portrait
of George Washington for 120 years — and provided it on loan
to the gallery for 33 — decided to sell it. In November, Harry
Dalmeny gave the gallery until April 1 to meet his $20 million asking
price. If it didn’t, he planned to have Sotheby’s sell
the painting at auction, which could have prompted a bid of $40
million or more.
“This is the portrait of George Washington that everyone knows,”
Madden says of the life-size painting. “It had the potential
to be one of the most expensive American works sold at auction.
The Portrait Gallery has never raised such a sum and never needed
to.”
Washington posed for the portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796,
the last year of his presidency. It was commissioned by Sen. William
Bingham as a gift for the Marquis of Lansdowne, a British supporter
of the American cause during the Revolution. Stuart is known to
have painted two copies and helped paint several others, one of
which hangs in the White House.
The task that faced Madden and his boss, gallery Director Marc Pachter,
was ensuring that the original, and most valuable, remained accessible
to the American public.
“There was a 99.9 percent chance that, if auctioned off, the
portrait would have gone to a private collection,” Madden says.
“Our aim really was, ‘Can we save George Washington for
the American people?’”
Initially, the gallery worked quietly to find a donor to fund the
purchase. There were nibbles but no bites. Then, five weeks before
the deadline, a Washington business journal learned of the effort
and planned to break the story. It was time for the gallery to make
national headlines.
“It took on a life of its own after that,” says Madden,
whose news release prompted nationwide coverage. “It was because
of the media that we found our donor.”
The chair of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation spotted an article
about the gallery’s quest in the Wall Street Journal. The next
day, its president saw Madden’s boss being interviewed on NBC’s
“Today” show and left a voicemail for Madden.
Discussions ensued and within a week Madden hammered out the agreement.
Two weeks before the deadline, he issued another news release: The
Reynolds Foundation would donate $20 million to buy the portrait,
$4 million to fund a space for it in the National Portrait Gallery
and $6 million for educational programs and a three-year national
tour of the portrait. It will return to Washington when the gallery,
which is closed for renovations, reopens in 2004.
Madden says the gallery received hundreds of offers to help. A New
York third-grader planned to launch a Web site about the effort.
Texas schoolkids wanted to donate $1 each and get their community
to provide matching funds.
“It was an incredible boost that reminded us we were going
to be successful,” he says. “The American people were
going to write the final chapter. I’m sure I’ll never
have the chance to work on another project like this — one
that affects so many people. This was the opportunity of a career.”
Mary Alice Casey is editor of Ohio Today.
Next:
So who is this Patrick Madden? >
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